If only Nassau Democrats had listened....

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Nassau Democrats, who lost the majority on the county legislature last November, can’t say they weren’t warned.

Last year on this site we recounted the political game played by then-Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove), before Democrats approved an unpopular 2.5 percent home-heating tax. Yatauro stalled and delayed the vote for more than 8 hours — until all opponents had left the legislative chamber before getting a chance to speak.

“This was reminiscent of Aug.1999 when the county faced a similar financial crisis. Republicans, who then controlled the legislature, also waited hours for the protesting public to leave before approving a real-estate transfer tax.

As it turned out, the tax was so unpopular that voters three months later ousted the Republican majority.”

Postscript:

Paul Kosowski, of the Nassau County Civic Association, was one of those opponents who didn’t get a chance to speak a year ago.

He said this week that he subsequently told Yatauro, now the legislature’s Minority leader, that it “wasn’t the right thing to do.”